Sunday, May 25, 2014
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Every Day: Project Description
Why am I writing this book? To save my life, to keep from dying, of course. That is why we get up in the morning.
- William Saroyan
It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
- Oscar Wilde, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
-Jack Nicholson, from Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of 'The Shining'
Every Day* is an ongoing visual document involving self-portraiture, in it's most literal sense, performed within a set of guidelines. Since February 23rd, 1987, I have, on a daily basis, made a photograph of my face. Reserved exclusively for this procedure are a single camera, tripod, strobe and white backdrop. A small, additional tripod and backdrop make the setup portable; it goes with me when I travel. I use the same type of high-resolution film (Kodak Technical Pan until it was discontinued in 2007, Ilford Pan F since then) and the same strobe lighting. The camera is always set and focused at the same distance. When taking the picture, I try to center myself in the frame, maintain a neutral expression and look straight into the lens.
It is important to me that each day's image be no more nor less than a reasonably detailed visual record of the subjectʼs presence. I have made a conscious choice to avoid odd framing, engaging composition, unusual lighting or any other strategy that would favor the photograph at the expense of the subject. Similarly, I try to minimize expression and/or visual indicators of mood or personality. In essence, my attempt has been to standardize the technical and logistic aspects of this procedure to the extent that only one variable remains: whatever change may occur in my face and flesh, measured obsessively and incrementally by the day, for the rest of my life.
The impulse for this work originates in the vectors of curiosity and distress tied to four factors affecting my life:
1) Mortality.
2) Incremental change.
3) Obsession (its relation to both the psyche and art-making)
4) The difference between attempting to be Perfect, and being human. Much as I try to make each day's image a clone of its neighbors, there is always a difference. Sometimes the discrepancy is subtle, sometimes it is hilariously gross. Failure is a foregone conclusion. Life gets in the way. Mistakes are part of the project, and part of the process.
The nature of Every Day presumes it to be a work in progress. The form of its presentation varies, depending on space and circumstance. As much as sameness is important in the making of each day's image, difference becomes an issue when the images are shown collectively, as a body of work. So far, my aim has been to change the way the work is presented, to vary the interface, as it were, for each new venue.
To return to the Every Day main page, and view all photographs, day by day, click here, or visit http://www.kbeveryday.blogspot.com
- William Saroyan
It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
- Oscar Wilde, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
-Jack Nicholson, from Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of 'The Shining'
Every Day* is an ongoing visual document involving self-portraiture, in it's most literal sense, performed within a set of guidelines. Since February 23rd, 1987, I have, on a daily basis, made a photograph of my face. Reserved exclusively for this procedure are a single camera, tripod, strobe and white backdrop. A small, additional tripod and backdrop make the setup portable; it goes with me when I travel. I use the same type of high-resolution film (Kodak Technical Pan until it was discontinued in 2007, Ilford Pan F since then) and the same strobe lighting. The camera is always set and focused at the same distance. When taking the picture, I try to center myself in the frame, maintain a neutral expression and look straight into the lens.
It is important to me that each day's image be no more nor less than a reasonably detailed visual record of the subjectʼs presence. I have made a conscious choice to avoid odd framing, engaging composition, unusual lighting or any other strategy that would favor the photograph at the expense of the subject. Similarly, I try to minimize expression and/or visual indicators of mood or personality. In essence, my attempt has been to standardize the technical and logistic aspects of this procedure to the extent that only one variable remains: whatever change may occur in my face and flesh, measured obsessively and incrementally by the day, for the rest of my life.
The impulse for this work originates in the vectors of curiosity and distress tied to four factors affecting my life:
1) Mortality.
2) Incremental change.
3) Obsession (its relation to both the psyche and art-making)
4) The difference between attempting to be Perfect, and being human. Much as I try to make each day's image a clone of its neighbors, there is always a difference. Sometimes the discrepancy is subtle, sometimes it is hilariously gross. Failure is a foregone conclusion. Life gets in the way. Mistakes are part of the project, and part of the process.
The nature of Every Day presumes it to be a work in progress. The form of its presentation varies, depending on space and circumstance. As much as sameness is important in the making of each day's image, difference becomes an issue when the images are shown collectively, as a body of work. So far, my aim has been to change the way the work is presented, to vary the interface, as it were, for each new venue.
* From 1995, when it was first shown publicly, through 1997, this project was exhibited as Daily Self-Portraits. The title was changed to Every Day in 1998.
Shown below are installation views, descriptive text and ephemera listing the various occasions when Every Day has been exhibited. Click on images to enlarge.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Kingsley Morse Jr. and the science of aging
Kingsley G. Morse Jr. has been doing some work related to the science of aging:
https://www.morse.kiwi.nz/kingsley/doku.php?id=science:start#someone_aging_22_years
https://www.morse.kiwi.nz/kingsley/doku.php?id=science:start#someone_aging_22_years
Monday, February 2, 2009
10x10x10
Robert Mann Gallery, New York NY
September 7 - October 31, 1995
Eleven framed photographs, each taken ten months apart, beginning 10/10/87.
Installation view with photographs and book
Detail of book containing every image to date of show.When Two or More: New Typologies
Houston Center for Photography, Houston TX
November - December 22, 1996
Installation view, twelve photographs.Karl Baden: Daily Self-Portraits; 2.23.87 – 2.23.97
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston MA
April 19 –May 20, 1997
This was the first full-sized presentation of the project, consisting of 120 enlargements, spanning a ten year period (ie; the image made on the 23rd of each month), installed in a grid along four walls. Also included is a book containing every image to date.
Installation view: walls 1-3
Installation view: wall 4 (including book)
Installation detail: wall 1 (quote from The Picture of Dorian Gray)
Installation detail: wall 3 (Quote from Camera Lucida)
Installation detail: wall 4 (book of every photo to date, quote from film The Shining)
This was the first full-sized presentation of the project, consisting of 120 enlargements, spanning a ten year period (ie; the image made on the 23rd of each month), installed in a grid along four walls. Also included is a book containing every image to date.
Installation view: walls 1-3
Installation view: wall 4 (including book)
Installation detail: wall 1 (quote from The Picture of Dorian Gray)
Installation detail: wall 3 (Quote from Camera Lucida)
Installation detail: wall 4 (book of every photo to date, quote from film The Shining)Face Value: Reflections on Identity
Tufts University Gallery, Medford MA,
April 30 – May 17 1998
Two looping videos, ‘133 Days’ and ‘133 Months’, played simultaneously on two monitors placed side-by-side. Structurally, the videos are identical, each consisting of 133 photographs of my face, one morphing into the next. The pacing and dissolve time are the same for each video. The length of both are equal: 18 min. 58 sec. The difference between them is that in ‘133 Days’ the timeline is 133 consecutive days: 2.23.87 –7.5.87, whereas in ‘133 Months’ the timeline is 133 consecutive months, beginning on the same date, 2.23.87, but ending 11 years later, on 2.23.98.
Installation view: titles
Installation views: Images
Installation view: detail (photograph, quote, book)
Exhibition catalog excerpt
13 Days, 13 Weeks, 13 Months, 13 Years
Light Work Visual Studies, Syracuse NY
April 7 - June 30, 2000
A condensed version of 133 Days / 133 Months, in this minute-long loop, the screen is quartered, showing the simultaneous passing of a dozen days, weeks, months and years.This digital video loop was installed as a part of How did I... Get Here?: Karl Baden, Self-Portraits, 1974 - 2000; a 26 year retrospective.
Installation detail: computer monitor and self-portrait photographs.
Installation view: video monitor and book.
A condensed version of 133 Days / 133 Months, in this minute-long loop, the screen is quartered, showing the simultaneous passing of a dozen days, weeks, months and years.This digital video loop was installed as a part of How did I... Get Here?: Karl Baden, Self-Portraits, 1974 - 2000; a 26 year retrospective.
Installation detail: computer monitor and self-portrait photographs.12 Days, 12 Weeks, 12 Months, 12 Years
McMullin Museum of Art, Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA,
McMullin Museum of Art, Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA,
June – September, 1999
The same digital video loop as above, one year earlier.
The same digital video loop as above, one year earlier.
Installation view: video monitor and book.
Installation view: book of every photo to date of show.
Family Tree
Robert Mann Gallery, New York NY
July 14 - August 25, 2000
Accompanying text & images involving the birth of my daughter, printouts of each day’s image between October 1993 and February 1998.
Installation view: photographs, text and photographic grid.
Accompanying text & images involving the birth of my daughter, printouts of each day’s image between October 1993 and February 1998.
Installation view: photographs, text and photographic grid.
Installation detail: photographs, text and photographic grid.
Exhibition review.
A Long Year
‘Self Evidence: Identity in Contemporary Art’
Decordova Museum, Lincoln MA, Feb. – May 2004
Wall text:
On September 29th, 2000, I went for my annual physical. My doctor told me I was in great shape. His words to me as I left his office were:
“Whatever it is you’re doing, keep it up!”
A month later I was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. My treatment consisted of six months of weekly chemotherapy, followed by surgery.
After cancer, one lives with the hope that the disease has left the body.
One learns to accept that it doesn’t leave the mind.
“Whatever it is you’re doing, keep it up!”
A month later I was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. My treatment consisted of six months of weekly chemotherapy, followed by surgery.
After cancer, one lives with the hope that the disease has left the body.
One learns to accept that it doesn’t leave the mind.
DVD projection with sound: 15 min 47 sec.
Artists schematic rendering of installation
A Long Year from Karl Baden on Vimeo.
Artists schematic rendering of installation
Installation view
A Long Year: A Video Installation by Karl Baden
Revisit the Mirror: Self-Portrait Through Time
Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto CA
September 26 - December 23, 2004
and
A Long Year: A Video Installation by Karl Baden
Light Work Visual Studies, Syracuse NY
June 27–August 12, 2005
Installation View: Gallery entrance.
Installation view: inside gallery
Exhibition press release.Head Count
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston MA
April 22 - May 24, 2005
April 22 - May 24, 2005
Inkjet print consisting of 6,613 heads in chronological order. 28 x 28 in.
Installation views with detail.
Every Day: 2/23/87 - 2/23/07, Twenty Years - Ten Bucks
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston MA
May 4 - 29, 2007
To view Mark Feeney's review of this exhibit in The Boston Globe main page, click here
From the gallery press release:
From May 4 - 29, 2007, Howard Yezerski Gallery will be exhibiting an installation of 7,305 photographs marking the 20th anniversary of gallery artist Karl Baden's work-in-progress Every Day.
In the midst of all the recent buzz about various twenty-something's taking daily pictures of their faces and posting them on YouTube as Quicktime films, it is possible to overlook the fact that Karl Baden has been quietly and consistently making a daily photograph of his own face for more than two decades, and has presented various facets of this ongoing, lifelong endeavor in more than a dozen exhibition spaces and publications....
...In this site-specific installation, Baden will cover the walls of Howard Yezerski Gallery's back room with contact size prints of every image from the first twenty years of the project. These photographs, each measuring approximately 1.2 by 1.7 inches, are printed on doubleweight, fiber-based gelatin silver paper. Each is dated, signed and numbered (from an edition of 3). All prints are priced at ten dollars each, available on a first-come, first-served basis. By pricing the work so low, Baden takes a subtle poke at the workings of the art market, as well as adding a participatory component to the exhibition, encouraging anyone to purchase prints from days which may have resonance in his or her life. The photographs will be removed from the installation as they are purchased, much the same as how the individual days disappear from our own lives. To view the installation in it's entirety, members of the press are urged to come to the gallery prior to the opening on May 3rd.
In the midst of all the recent buzz about various twenty-something's taking daily pictures of their faces and posting them on YouTube as Quicktime films, it is possible to overlook the fact that Karl Baden has been quietly and consistently making a daily photograph of his own face for more than two decades, and has presented various facets of this ongoing, lifelong endeavor in more than a dozen exhibition spaces and publications....
...In this site-specific installation, Baden will cover the walls of Howard Yezerski Gallery's back room with contact size prints of every image from the first twenty years of the project. These photographs, each measuring approximately 1.2 by 1.7 inches, are printed on doubleweight, fiber-based gelatin silver paper. Each is dated, signed and numbered (from an edition of 3). All prints are priced at ten dollars each, available on a first-come, first-served basis. By pricing the work so low, Baden takes a subtle poke at the workings of the art market, as well as adding a participatory component to the exhibition, encouraging anyone to purchase prints from days which may have resonance in his or her life. The photographs will be removed from the installation as they are purchased, much the same as how the individual days disappear from our own lives. To view the installation in it's entirety, members of the press are urged to come to the gallery prior to the opening on May 3rd.
Composite installation panoramas of gallery on first and last days of exhibit.
As a followup to this exhibit, I asked those who bought pictures to email me the reason why they picked the dates they did.
To view some of the responses I received, click here, or visit http://www.kbeveryday3.blogspot.comSunday, February 1, 2009
Campaign Buttons: Artists Speak Out
Miller Block Gallery, Boston MA
September 5th - October 11th, 2008
From the press release:
In an effort to foster a dialogue between art and politics, Miller Block Gallery has distributed 500 blank campaign buttons to a wide range of Boston based artists in the hopes that they will visually explore the impact of political alliance and support during the pending presidential election."
The piece I produced for this show consisted of five buttons, each 3" diameter, set in velvet and framed.
The buttons contained an enlargement of my left eye from every inauguration day since the project started: January 20th of 1989 (Bush 41), 1993 (Clinton), 1997 (Clinton), 2001 (Bush 43), and 2005 (Bush 43). Each button had the appropriate date printed in red, white and blue.
The notion of observation, of watching what happens, had more appeal to me in terms of our electoral process than advocating for a specific candidate in a specific election.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Every Day (in progress) : 2.23.87 - 7.26.09, Carpenter Center for Visual Art, Harvard University
The grid in miniature, from 2.23.87 -7.26.09 (click to enlarge slightly):
Installation views:
Body of Art: the body in contemporary artistic practice
Prairie Gallery, Cincinnati OH
June 17 - August 20, 2011
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